Episode 6 (Digimon) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-6-digimon

Listening back today, I noticed how we hadn't mentioned Kokapetl (the parrot) or the documentaries and I was rather surprised that they hadn't cropped up in our chat. (I guess the closest I got was talking about the real-life history of Macchu Picchu, which is the subject of one of the documentaries.)

The way you describe watching it as a 6-year-old tallies exactly with how I felt watching it at exactly the same age, and I can see that we've reacted strongly to some of the same things when re-watching as an adult but kind of gone to different extremes with whether we like them, which is interesting.

I find what you say about the music particularly interesting. There can be no denying that there is an awful lot of it, so I can see that each little tune would get repetitive rather quickly if you don't find that it complements what's going on in the story; it's all a matter of personal taste.

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 6

Original Release Date: 22nd December 2010

Throwback Review Date: 15th March 2016

Score: 3 out of 5 (good)

**

The Good:** The quality of Mel's quest remains high to the end, building to a nice crescendo with Darren finally expressing his true feelings when things go to pot. I feel that Treguard's assessment of the girls as “foolish children” falls just the right side of the line of what works. I think Aden's Level 1 is fairly well conceived and pulled off.

The Bad: I wish to God I hadn't mentioned Hollyoaks in the opening poem. The trapdoor sound effect should have come in as Gretel was saying “ something's going” rather than just after she said “to”. The Lillith scene could have done with a few tweaks to the dialogue. McGrew goes slightly Welsh at times.

Conclusion: Undoubtedly it's not quite up to the standard of the previous episode, but I think it stands up surprisingly well.

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 5

Original Release Date: 20th November 2010

Throwback Review Date: 14th March 2016

Score: 3 out of 5 (good)

The Good: I like Abdul's death scene. The fatal sound effect is the first one I ever found for the series and I think it works well.

Rosey taught us a valuable lesson with Mel's quest, namely how to give a team just the right amount of character. All four team members are written consistently and with humour, both individually and in their roles within the group, which can easily be imagined as having crossed over from their real lives.

Rosey also demonstrated the kind of character scenes we should be aiming for with her peek into the life of the Grimwold family. (I like the dog sound effects in that scene, which I also found!) Mel's laughably bad attempt to make friends with Cedric is totally on-point, thanks to Juliet Thompson.

The Bad: The one scene of Mel's quest that Rosey did not write seems stylistically out of place to me, and if you don't know which one it is then just listen for the scene in which Mel does not introduce herself (or fail to) in her usual way. (I don't think it's a bad scene as such; I just don't think it sits too well in this particular quest.)

There is an issue with interruptions – they sometimes aren't where they were supposed to be, which means that, at times, the interplay between Darren and the girls (including some of Treguard's associated dialogue) is not quite creating the feel that Rosey was going for.

Conclusion: This episode is a beacon of hope in the first half of the first series, and an important signpost to take the production in the right direction.

Episode 5 (The Mysterious Cities of Gold) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-5-the-mysterious-cities-of-gold

By the way, the best shot of the knapsack looking firmly square that I could find was Alistair standing in front of Dooris in the third episode of Series 4.

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 4

Original Release Date: 14th October 2010

Throwback Review Date: 13th March 2016

Score: 2 out of 5 (nearly there)

The Good: This is undoubtedly Greg Ford's best performance as Cedric, and it's good to hear the SHOVEL spell being used successfully in some version of Knightmare! My Merlin voice is finally just about right, and I like some of the stuff he says about Morghanna.

I still enjoying listening to Abdul's quest. It's quite a good first attempt to create an amusingly rubbish team, and I love the gorgeous voice of John Liu at the fore. The scene with Folly and the cards is well conceived and successfully pulled off.

The Bad: Dylan's 'clue room' is obviously shoehorned in and is a clear sign of improper planning. I dislike the deepening effect on Morgahnna's voice and I know that Rosey hates it, as it interferes with her interpretation of the character and in no way makes her sound more evil or threatening. (It sounds exactly like one of our aunts, incidentally.)

Dylan's death scene is not as effective a piece of homage to Ross's death from the real show as it might be with a few tweaks to the dialogue, which is quite annoying. Abdul's advisors don't have any individual characteristics. The door in the bomb room unlocks too early, as Abdul has not approached it yet.

Conclusion: Overall, it's nearly good. Undoubtedly it's the best episode so far, even though it's not quite good enough to earn a higher score than Episode 2 from me.

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 3

Original Release Date: 11th September 2010

Throwback Review Date: 12th March 2016

Score: 1 out of 5 (not bad)

The Good: The background music on the opening poem is at a better volume. There's a coherent attempt to present Dylan as an overly anxious dunegoneer who doesn't trust his advisors. The voices of Hansel and Gretel are now uncorrupted by effects. Andy Marshall puts a great spin on “You've got a lovely singing voice” that I was not expecting, but it turns out to be very appropriate!

The Bad: This episode is rather short (which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing in itself) because we did not have enough material recorded to fill the time. Consequently there are several scenes of Rosey and me (as Daisy and Treguard) frantically trying to pad the episode with impromptu dwarf tunnels and bomb rooms, and I find that these stick out like sore thumbs.

This taught us the valuable lesson that the series should be recorded one whole quest at a time and then divided into episodes, rather than trying to guess how much material we would need for each episode and just recording that. (Yes, it's obvious really, but hindsight is twenty-twenty!)

Dylan's journey to the end of Level 1 seems a bit rushed to me. As for Level 2, the Hansel and Gretel scene has potential but the end result is not quite there, although I did smile at “Why are you speaking with that ridiculous accent?” I'm afraid! After Merlin, the episode limps towards its premature end with shameless filler and a few recycled lines.

Conclusion: I suppose we needed an episode like this before things could get very much better, so thankfully it happened quite early!

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 2

Original Release Date: 3rd August 2010

Throwback Review Date: 11th March 2016

Score: 2 out of 5 (nearly there)

The Good: I've always been a fan of Jacob Ward's teenaged voice as a very petulant Dylan. Andy Marshall demonstrates how to play an advisor in a fun and engaging way for those who have the vocal skills to do it. I still like the use of the DREAMS spell as a nice bit of book homage, and Merlin's associated dialogue (“Now it's time for me to return to my own dreams” etc) is good.

The McGrew scene still stands up quite well. I like the chessboard simple starter (even though there's at least one line too many of the team discussing it) as it's just the sort of thing that might have been used (but wasn't) on the real show.

The Bad: I've always said that the Audio Series is at its best when it manages to evoke the original Knightmare in some way, perhaps atmospherically or by successfully paying homage to a particular scene or team. By the same token, when the events of the Audio Series do not match up with what might happen on the real show and thus fail to evoke Knightmare in my mind, I can't help feeling a bit disappointed. The whole thing with Merlin giving one vital spell for one correct answer and a bonus, non-essential spell for a second correct answer therefore does not sit very well with me, as on Knightmare you either need a spell or you don't.

I don't like the pitching down on Hansel because it interferes with my comedy German voice. Treguard jumps to a wild conclusion about where the catacombite came from for no reason. The Mogdred scene has potential but the end result is not quite there. The background music on the opening poem is too loud.

Conclusion: This episode is definitely an improvement on the first, so it does its job!

We've had a lot of fun making the series over the past 6 years, but what do I really think of it? Find out now in Jake's Throwback Reviews!

Episode: Series 1, Episode 1

Original Release Date: 12th July 2010

Throwback Review Date: 10th March 2016

Score: 1 out of 5 (not bad)

The Good: The main thing this episode has going for it is that it convinced me (and others, I'm sure) that the whole idea of a Knightmare Audio Series could be made to work, which I had never really believed before I heard the finished product. Aspects of Knightmare such as Treguard interacting with the Dungeon-bound characters, and having the teams answer riddles with characters such as Merlin and the wall monsters, were obviously going to translate well into audio.

This episode even has a few quotable lines that were able to reach something like their full potential, mainly from Rosey as Gretel. Additionally, I always thought that calling Merlin's steps with noises rather than actions for this series was a very good idea, and I still do. A particular treat in this episode is Gemma Dwarwood's frighteningly accurate horse impression!

The Bad: Like all pilot episodes (even in the world of professional radio and TV) it is a very long way from being perfect. The script is largely terrible. Some of the Treguard spiel near the beginning was made up off the top of my head, which taught me always to have everything written down first in future for this particular project.

Many of the voices are not quite there yet (my impression of Merlin keeps going too low, for example) and some of the pitching that Ross did on many of the lines is absolutely crazy and sounds pretty bad. The main example in this particular episode is that Gretel is slightly pitched down from the impression Rosey did of her – yes, Gretel! Treguard, of course, sounds quite awful, partly because I haven't at all got to grips with playing him yet and partly because he, too, has been pitched down. (As one comment on Youtube for a slightly later episode rather astutely puts it, Treguard sounds much too “mournful” in these early episodes.)

There are lots of other small niggles too, such as the fact that Granitas does not have his echo yet, and that having the advisors “rhubarb” to represent discussion sounds like utter rubbish. However, it was important to be able to identify all these issues and deal with them at various points in the future, which is a big part of the purpose of a pilot episode.

**

Conclusion:** This episode is a clear demonstration that the format can work successfully, which is all anyone should really ask of it at this stage! Thankfully it's not quite as bad as I'm always expecting when I re-listen to it.

The rounded one is the new one for Series 6. We reckon the Series 8 one is the old one coming back in because there's more room to store objects in there. I suspect it's the same one in every series except 6 and 7, which have the round-bottomed one.

Episode 4 (The Chipmunks) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-4-the-chipmunks

Thanks for all your fantastic comments about the series, Annie.

The eight of clubs is right because it follows the eight of hearts. In the absence of being able to follow suit, it seems the next best thing in this game is to match the previous number.

Episode 3 (Masters of the Universe) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-3-masters-of-the-universe

Knightmare is mentioned!

Thanks so much Annie, we're really glad you enjoyed it! We hope that anyone who enjoyed our episode commentaries a few years ago will get a kick out of our podcasts, so here are links to what we have so far:

Introduction http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-introduction

Episode 1 (Knightmare) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-1-knightmare

Episode 2 (Ghostbusters) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-2-ghostbusters

Episode 3 (Masters of the Universe) should be available this time next week, if all goes according to plan!

I never expected to see this type of praise for The Eye Shield and the Audio Series published on UKGameshows.com! I must admit to feeling a certain amount of personal satisfaction after reading what they had to say, as I have personally written about 90% of both those particular ventures, but even more than that, it just goes to show that if you put something out there simply because you think it's worth doing and you want to be the one to do it, someone (by which I mean someone outside the immediate online community, which has already responsed very positively, of course!) will eventually find it and appreciate it.

As usual, a real treat to hear so many of Knightmare's most vocally talented fans putting a new spin on so many familiar characters. I'm looking forward to finding out more about Treguard's Adventures in Wonderland.

Massive thanks and congrats to everyone who helped to bring this episode to life, especially the newest member of the Audio Series family, Amy, whose stunning performance as Lindsay really does elevate the finished product to a whole new level.

Every time a new script is brought to life, there are some parts that sound exactly like they were supposed to, some parts that fall a bit flat and sounded much better written down, and some parts that become unexpected gems when read out by our actors. Here are three exchanges that I think turned out particularly well this time:

Pickle: Well, do you think Merlin will ever tire of disguising himself to test our dungeoneers, Master? Surely he has better things to do with his time.

Treguard: Apparently he doesn’t, Pickle - I have talked to him about it, I assure you. Onwards now, team.

Lindsay: Um… what kind of favour?

Hands: Well, I’m about to get me magic rope out, right?

Lindsay: You’re about to get your what out?

Hands: Me magic rope.

Lindsay: How do you know you’ll be safe? Have you got, like, an underground bunker or something?

Maldame: Now look… dear… I know the capabilities of this stronghold better than you. We are not afraid of Lord Fear.

You can now view PDFs of all seventy issues of The Eye Shield at http://www.freewebs.com/theeyeshield/.

Many of The Eye Shield links on this website seem to be missing or broken, so if anyone fancies redoing them then they can.

Issues 1-9 are in their original state, with all pictures and puzzles reinstated.

This message is from Jake (Eyeshield) posted via Ross' account.

[EDIT By Mystara on 25 March 2021: The above link is no longer valid]

Rosey says Sylvester Hands - let's see what that scores her...

pointless1.jpg

Annie says Ridolfo - let's see what that scores her...

pointlessanswer.jpg

Hands used his "magic" rope as a weapon, and he also had a cudgel. Ridolfo carried a sword which he whipped out on two occasions, and he's just won Annie the title of Ultimate Knightmare Pointless Champion 2011!

Here is the full list for that question:

STILETTA (knives, sword) - 4

CEDRIC (staff) - 3

GWENDOLINE (bow & arrow) - 3

MCGREW (sword) - 3

VELDA (crossbow, dagger) - 3

GIBBET (knife) - 2

GUNDRADA (sword) - 2

ROMAHNA (crossbow) - 2

SKARKILL (axe, flail) - 2

TREGUARD (sword) - 2

AUTOMATUM (flail) - 1

BROTHER MACE (mace) - 1

CAPTAIN NEMANOR (sword) - 1

FATILLA (club) - 1

GUMBOIL (sword) - 1

OLAF (club) - 1

RAPTOR (sword) - 1

SIR HUGH (sword) - 1

SYLVESTER HANDS (rope, cudgel) - 1

BROTHER STRANGE (staff) - 0

GATEMASTER (staff) - 0

RIDOLFO (sword) - 0

Annie, you have been an outstanding Knightmare Pointless player and now you are the Ultimate Champion - congratulations! Congratulations also to our gallant runner-up, Rosey, and to our other chmapions, Nick and Ross - thank you all for playing!